Vatican CITY – Pope Francis appointed two new undersecretaries to the office of the Synod of Bishops of the Vatican on February 6, instructing an Augustinian priest and a sister Xavier to divide up the tasks as deputy heads of the department.
Spanish Fr. Luis Marín de San Martín and French Sister Nathalie Becquart will be the first dual undersecretaries of the Synod since its creation in 1967.
Although the Vatican bulletin announcing the change listed the synod’s two nominations together, it also said that Francis had chosen to make San Martín bishop.
The Synod of Bishops’ office has the primary task of helping to organize synod meetings, which bring hundreds of Catholic bishops to Rome every few years to discuss topics chosen by the pope.
The situation of women participating in these meetings has emerged as a topic of debate in recent years. Although women have been appointed to non-voting synods as auditors or experts, none have yet served as a voting member.
Cardinal Mario Grech, the head of the Synod’s office, seemed to suggest in an interview with the Vatican News internal vehicle after the new appointments that Becquart would now be a voting member in future synods.
“With the appointment of Sr. Nathalie Becquart and her possibility to participate with the right to vote, a door opens,” said Grech, according to the original version of the interview in Italian.
The Vatican’s English translation of the interview seemed, however, to soften Grech’s language, with the cardinal mentioning “the possibility that she will participate with voting rights”.
San Martín is a theologian who earned his doctorate in ecclesiology from Pope John XXIII. He had served as assistant general of his order and as president of the Augustinian Institute of Spirituality, based in Rome.
Becquart is a former director of the French bishops’ vocational office, organizer of the Synod for young people in 2018 and a consultant to the Synod since May 2019.
Francisco held four synods during his eight-year papacy, with the last being the 2019 regional meeting for the nine-nation Amazon region. The next one, focusing on synodality, is scheduled for October 2022.
Theologian Luigi Gioia praised the pope’s appointment of Becquart as one of the two undersecretaries.
“Synodality is at the heart of Pope Francis’ ministry and will be crucial to that legacy,” Gioia, associate researcher at the University of Cambridge, told NCR. “Therefore, the appointment of Sr. Nathalie Becquart is even more significant.”
“Recognizing this, however, should not blind us to the fact that we are far from rehabilitating the Church as a people of God who … is so dear to Pope Francis,” said the theologian. The representation of lay people and women at the synod “remains insignificant,” added Gioia.